1. Field of the invention
This invention relates in general to avoiding airplane crashes due to terrorist bombs, and in particular to a luggage or cargo container that has features for mitigating the damage of a bomb explosion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The problem of dealing with terrorist bombs on board airlines has not been solved. Improved scanning of passenger luggage and air freight is not likely to be able to detect all bombs placed in luggage by a terrorist. A plastic explosive device hidden inside checked luggage stored within a lower cargo hold in a large airplane can cause a rapid breakup of the aircraft. Shock waves propagating within the aircraft from an explosion can cause numerous points of secondary damage, some resulting in actual breaching of the fuselage hull.
In large airliners, the checked luggage will be stowed in containers. These containers are then stowed in the cargo hold located below the passenger compartment. It is impractical to design a luggage cargo shipping container that can contain the high pressure gas and shock waves resulting from an explosion of a bomb. Pressures can exceed one million pounds per square inch during such an explosion. The walls of the container would have to be inordinately thick in order to contain the explosion. The thickness would make the containers too heavy to be feasible.